On the Loose Side

Checking in with Olympic medalist Erin Pac

HAMPTON, Ga. – Erin Pac, bronze medal winner in the women’s bobsled, was one of four American medalist winners from last month’s Winter Olympics on hand at Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday as guests of former Daytona 500 winner Geoffrey Bodine. Bodine’s Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project has helped fund and build sleds for the U.S. team for nearly two decades.

Rough start to 2010 for Penske Racing

Three races into the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, and I’m beginning to wonder what’s up with Penske Racing.
 
Coming off a season that saw Kurt Busch qualify for the Chase For The Sprint Cup and finish fourth in points, it seemed a given that the 2004 champion would be a contender this year. The addition of winning crew chief Steve Addington was yet another reason to expect a strong showing by the organization’s veteran team.
 
But thus far, that hasn’t happened. Busch is 19th in points, has just one top-10 finish and hasn’t been the factor most might have expected.
 
On the other hand, he has fared far better than his two teammates, Sam Hornish Jr. and Brad Keselowski. Both drivers are outside the top 25 in points and neither has managed a top-10 finish thus far.
 
How much of the organization’s trouble has been self-induced, and how much can be blamed on problems not of the teams’, or drivers’, own making?
 
There’s no reason to panic, but plenty of reason to be concerned. It’s still very early, and struggling teams have been known to turn around their programs in similar situations and gone on to enjoy successful seasons.
 
The question is, do Penske Racing’s three teams have the talent and resources to do that? Or will it be a long season for the series’ lone Dodge outfit?
 
 
 

Kasey Kahne impressed with Winter Olympics

FONTANA, Calif. – Kasey Kahne has more than just a passing interest in this year’s Winter Olympics, currently taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Kasey Kahne impressed with Olympic efforts

FONTANA, Calif. – Kasey Kahne has more than just a passing interest in this year’s Winter Olympics, currently taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia.
 
And it’s not only because the Richard Petty Motorsports driver’s No. 9 Ford is carrying an Olympic paint scheme for the second consecutive week. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver debuted the paint scheme a week ago in the season-opening Daytona 500.
 
It seems Kahne has a genuine interest in the events that make up the Winter Games.
 
“I like watching about everything,” he said, “but I think the most impressive has been Shaun White snowboarding. Just how ridiculous he is compared to most guys. The crazy things he can do, the air, the height he can get.”
 
The popular White won the gold medal in Men’s Halfpipe Wednesday night.
 
“The skiing … I watch figure skating,” Kahne said. “I watch everything, I like it all; I always have.”
 
Kahne, who hails from Enumclaw, Wash., says he’s done a little snowboarding himself, but admits, “I ski a litter better. [They’re] so impressive.
 
“I watch them and have no clue how they do that, because I can barely go down a hill,” he said.
 

Ray Evernham continues to view sport from different perspective

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ray Evernham walks through the garage and notices the little things, small things that most fans might not see, or perhaps understand.
 
“I miss it,” the former championship-winning crew chief says. “I’m fortunate enough to get to do the [TV] stuff that lets me see everybody. I do think my ‘mechanical’ mind misses it. I was going through the garage looking at things … who has the track bar where, who has it somewhere else. What teams are doing differently, what’s changed. That kind of stuff never leaves you.”
 
Evernham, 52, is on the other side of the fence, working with television, and leaving the race-day decisions and assorted minutiae to others. The pressure of competing has subsided, but the sport still holds his undivided attention.
 
“I love the sport,” Evernham, who won three championships in four years with Jeff Gordon and the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 team, says. “I love to race. Whether that’s going to my little East Lincoln [N.C.] Speedway on Saturday night or going to a World of Outlaws race with Kasey [Kahne] or [wife] Erin.”
 
He’s not closer, however, to taking up residence once again inside the garage area. He remains to be a minority owner – his ties with George Gillett haven’t been totally severed – and the depth of his involvement in the sport won’t likely change until that particular issue is settled.
 
“That goes day by day,” he says. “I’m letting other people handle that right now and I’m just trying to stay out of it. We’re having conversations back and forth, but we haven’t been able to come up with anything that either of us are happy with.
 
“I want to be clear, I want to say that I’m not pissed off at George and he’s not pissed off at me. We just have to figure out how we can kind of go our separate ways.”
 
Once that issue is resolved, could he come back? Would he come back?
 
“If I had the opportunity to do something in the sport that I didn’t have to do full time,” Evernham says. “It would have to be a hell of an opportunity for me to come back and do 38 weekends a year again.
 
“Plus, who wants to race [crew chief] Chad [Knaus] and Jimmie [Johnson]?”
 
But doesn’t someone have to take the team that’s won four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, and is favored for a fifth this year, down a notch?
 
“Sure, I’d love to beat them,” he says. “But everybody in the garage would, too. The question is could you beat them?”
 

Kevin Harvick off to impressive start in 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Sifting through the clutter after Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout:

Lack of practice time shouldn’t make a difference during Daytona 500 qualifying

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It seems my esteemed colleague, Bob Pockrass, is up in arms today. Not enough practice time for NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series teams, he writes in his blog, before the biggest race of the season.

Eight years later, Shootout field still chasing Dale Earnhardt

Brushing up on the Budweiser Shootout:
 
They’ve run eight Shootouts since Dale Earnhardt’s passing, but it’s worth noting that no one is even close to his record of six wins in the non-points event. The leading active driver is Tony Stewart, who can bump his win total up to four with a victory in Saturday’s 75-lap affair.
 
Earnhardt didn’t win a Shootout, though. His half a dozen victories came when the event was still billed as the Busch Clash. At only 20 laps in length, it was a fitting name for the season’s first contest.
 
As for Stewart, the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, is one of only three drivers to score consecutive wins in the event. Stewart turned the trick in 2001-02. The other two? Keep reading.
 
Jeff Gordon (2), Dale Jarrett (3) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2) are the only other drivers to score multiple wins in the event, although they never went back-to-back.
 
There was a time when drivers earned spots in the race by winning a pole the previous year. But fields of 10 or fewer (there were five such fields between 1979 and 1990) became a tough sell. It didn’t help that the race only lasted 20 laps, which was the case from 1979 through 1997). Fans barely had time to take their seats before the checkered flag was flying.
 
Today, the system used to determine who is in the field is a bit more complicated. Maybe not as complicated as figuring out NASCAR’s driver rating formula, but it’s close.
 
To qualify for this year’s Shootout, a driver had to satisfy one of the following criteria; qualify for the previous year’s Chase; have won a Cup championship; have won a Shootout; have won a Cup race at Daytona; or be the series defending Raybestos Rookie of the Year.
 
Only drivers who have competed in the Cup series within the past two seasons are eligible. “Competed” in this case includes any attempts to qualify for a race. That being said, 28 drivers are eligible for this year’s race.
 
So who else managed consecutive wins in the Shootout? Neil Bonnett was the first, scoring victories in 1983 and ’84. And he accomplished the feat with two different teams.
 
Ken Schrader had consecutive wins in 1989 and ’90, and was the first to win the event for car owner Rick Hendrick.
 
 

Texas Motor Speedway officials are at it again

A final look back at the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season

Some things I noticed when looking back on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season:

Danica Patrick and Daytona? A definite maybe

We now know that Danica Patrick will attempt to qualify for Nationwide Series races Feb. 20 at Auto Club Speedway and Feb. 27 at Las Vegas, but the IndyCar driver left the door open concerning the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway.

First Cup banquet in Vegas was memorable

LAS VEGAS – NASCAR’s first foray into the desert to dole out postseason awards was, well, interesting.

Thoughts on recent happenings in NASCAR

Good quote that I overheard, but didn’t have anywhere to use at the time:

Cleaning up the debris after a three-race weekend in Phoenix …

Ron Hornaday made sure this week’s final for the Camping World Truck Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway was an afterthought. Hornaday won his fourth series title when he finished fourth at Phoenix International Raceway in the Lucas Oil 150.

Just win, baby

FORT WORTH, Texas – Maybe there’s a silver lining to this mess after all.